My wife and I love foraging for edible mushrooms. This summer has been one of the best that we have ever seen in Georgia. It seems that this season we have been blessed with the perfect amount of rain and sunshine to make fantastic flushes of mushrooms. We love to take our children out on mushroom hikes. Our boys have learned quite a bit about all of the different types of mushrooms we encounter on our hikes. This has been a wonderful year for chantrelle mushrooms. We have probably harvested over thirty pounds of them! But there has been one type of mushroom that has remained illusive to the both of us so far. Laetiporus sulphureus, known to most as, Chicken of the Woods.
We have been on the lookout for this tasty 'shroom for quite a while. More than once my wife has made me pull the car to the side of a road so she could go investigate a tree that she thought might be hosting some of these delights. But so far we have had no luck finding them together. The other day that changed, but only for me.
I am a farmhand. I spend my entire workday outside. It is very common for me to spot and harvest edible mushrooms. I've brought home puffballs, chantrelle, oyster, old man of the woods, and others. I was wrapping up my work for the day and thinking about clocking out. The time clock is located in an old house that has been converted to be an office. I decided that I was going to go check on the status of the muscadines that the previous residents had cultivated in the side yard. I was walking through the front yard and that's when I saw it, chicken of the woods! Growing on the base of an oak tree just a dozen feet away from the building!!
Funny how sometimes when I stop looking for something I end up finding it. I immediately sent my wife a picture and the words "Bock Bock!?". She replied with "Yes! Absolutely yes!". So I pulled out my pocket knife and cut the base of the mushroom flush with the tree. We have yet to eat it and I am looking forward to that. It is remarkable just how chicken-like this mushroom is!
Now my wife needs to find one. This mushroom has been her unicorn! I remain optimistic that she will find one soon. I only hope that I am with her when she does so that I may share her joy and excitement!
You can follow my wife and I's homesteading journey on her Steemit page @wholesomeroots
